The Hero, the Princess, and the Sidekick
by RavenclawReality
Summary: When his granddaughter, Minnie Weasley, cannot fall asleep, Ron offers to tell her a bedtime story. A fluffy little oneshot.


Ron Weasley held his closed deluminator in his fist as he snuggled down into his blankets. It would have been much more convenient to put out the light with a simple "nox", but he preferred the small metal device instead. Closing his eyes, he remembered the time he discovered his true powers. He had laughed when it was given to him in Albus Dumbledore's will, not knowing how else to respond to receiving such an odd gift. He repressed the urge to laugh again so as not to awaken his wife sleeping beside him, realizing he was nearing the age of his Hogwarts headmaster.

Where would he be without this gift, Ron wondered. Would he still have found Harry and Hermione after storming out over an argument he could no longer remember? Would Hermione still be lying beside him? Would Harry have drowned in the lake if he had not shown up just in time? Would Voldemort still be alive?

Just then, a creak broke the recent silence of the room, and light footsteps padded up to the bed.

"Hello?" Whispered a tiny voice.

Ron sat up in bed at the recognition of his granddaughter's voice. "Minnie? Why are you still up?"

She tiptoed over to his bedside. "Couldn't sleep."

"Alright," Ron sighed. Gingerly, he climbed out of bed. Hermione stirred, but did not wake. "Let's go back to your room first, and we'll figure something out." He kept the deluminator in hand, and followed his granddaughter into what used to be Rose's bedroom.

Though Minirva looked almost exactly like Rose had at seven years old, she was different in spirit. If Rose had had a sleepless night, she would've read a book quietly and gotten something to drink and gone right back to bed. But though this was only the first night Minnie was staying over, Ron could see her adventurous mindset in everything she did. Hugo had been energetic, sure, but that was nothing compared to his daughter.

Once Minnie and Ron had entered the room, Ron flicked open his deluminator, earning an impressive gasp from Minnie. Ron still felt a bit of pride, in spite of himself, at his neat little trick. He hadn't heard Hugo or Rose react to it in such a long time.

"How about this," Ron proposed, sitting down next to his granddaughter on her bed. He knew it was no use convincing her to get under the covers, much less trying to sleep, so he lifter her up and settled her into his lap instead. "I'll tell you _one_ story, anything you want, but then you have to go back to sleep."

Minnie twisted her face for a moment, pretending to consider the bargain. "Deal," she replied, and shook his hand for good measure.

"Good. Now what sort of stories do you like? Have you looked through the books on the shelf yet?"

"I looked _at_ them," said Minnie, "they're all boooring. There's no action."

Ron sighed, wondering if Hugo put up with this every night. Then he sighed again, realizing he might never put up with it again. "Not exciting enough for you, eh?"

Minnie nodded vigorously.

"Okay. I think I might be able to make up a good one."

Minnie shifted to get comfortable in Ron's arms and smiled with anticipation.

"So there was a Princess, a—"

"Stop. You're doing it wrong," Minnie interrupted, sounding almost precisely like her grandmother had in first year. "It starts with '_Once upon a time'_. Everybody knows that."

"Right," Ron said, hoping he wasn't too out of practice for the task. "Sorry. Let's try again.

"_Once upon a time_, there was a Princess, a brave Hero, and his Sidekick. They had been having a really great year of peace in the kingdom, but something was wrong. It was a little _too_ quiet. You see, it was a very violent kingdom, and the action almost never ceased."

"I like this story," said Minnie.

"Me too," said Ron. He continued. "One day, the three were taking a walk in the woods, when danger struck. Before the Princess or the Hero could do anything, their Sidekick was attacked by a fierce black dog the size of a lion. His leg was broken, and he was carried away into the darkness."

Minnie gasped and squeezed Ron's arm, but the story did not stop.

"The Hero and the Princess knew they must save their friend, so they went after him. They had to fight off a giant, scary tree that thrashed its branches around and tried to hurt them, and only narrowly escaped.

"But that was not all. Once they reunited with the Sidekick, he was accompanied by not one, but _two_ villains, evil men twice their size."

"Oh no!"

"Oh yes. The Hero, well he was a bit unstable after getting knocked around by the tree so many times, and wanted to take on the villains all by himself. But his best friends were not going to let him conquer them—conquer anything—alone. 'If you're going to kill him, you'll have to kill all three of us!' shouted the Sidekick. The villains laughed their evil laughs. Really, an overconfident hero who had not slept in long enough, a fair maiden, and a Sidekick who could barely stand? What where the odds?

"So who won?" Asked Minnie, getting riled up and anxious.

"Well one of them turned out not to be a villain at all—"

"What?"

"But that's another story for another night. There was a lot of talking and working out details there, and even the villains were confused as to which bad guys were good guys and which good guys were bad guys at that point. It doesn't really matter right now. Anyway, the three friends captured the really bad villain and were free now. They had won their mission, nothing more to worry about…. But suddenly they were attacked by a werewolf!"

Minnie gasped again and trembled as the details unfolded.

"He howled under the full moon, silhouetted in the black night, his yellowing fangs shining in the starlight, salivating looking at his pray. But just as soon as he jumped at them, the dog from before reappeared, and fought him off instead."

"Hey, I was wondering where he went," Minnie piped.

"You're very clever," replied Ron. "But it doesn't end there. While everyone was distracted by the werewolf, the really bad bad guy knocked the Sidekick out cold, and got away. He was not seen again for years…"

"The bad guy gets away? That's a terrible ending!"

Ron laughed. "Who said it was the end. Through the black night, looming black figures in hooded cloaks, dementors, came to attack the Hero, Princess, and the not-actually-bad guy. There were hundreds of these dementors, and the group was surrounded. The monsters practically blended into the night, filling the air with a chilling chill.

"The three of them fought valiantly to fight them off, and the Princess almost succeeded, but her attempts were fruitless. The dementors were so frightening that she fainted, as did the not-so-bad guy. The Hero was the last one standing. He looked around at the bodies of his friends. It was all up to him.

" One of the terrible dementors lowered his hood at him. Its face had no eyes, just a huge mouth, a gaping, shapeless hole that could swallow anybody's soul entirely."

"Their _souls_!?"

"Yep. It's ten times worse than killing. But that doesn't matter, because the Hero was unbeatable. He stood his ground, and through his bravery and confidence, he was found by a glowing, silver stag. And the stag galloped around the dementors, and through its powers and goodness, the awful creatures just flew away. The Hero emerged victorious, having conquered an angry tree, two villains, a werewolf, and dementors all in one night."

Minnie still looked unsatisfied. "Of course the Hero beat all the bad stuff. But what happened to the rest of them?"

"Oh, them," said Ron, pretending to have forgotten. "The Hero went to fetch his mighty Hippogriff, and rescued them all on it. They flew back to their castle, through the moonlight, with the Princess guiding the way, and lived happily ever after. Or until their next adventure, at least."

A yawn started to sound from Minnies throat, but she quickly closed her mouth, an inpatient look on her face. "But what happened to the _Princess_?"

"I told you, she was safe and sound."

Through her droopy eyelids, Minnie gave her grandfather a familiar look that told him he was still doing something wrong. "I _know_," she said. "But she married the Hero in the end, right?"

Ron was suddenly aware of the silver deluminator he held in his palm, noticing how the metal that was so cool at the start of the night had grown warm. He could almost feel the light swirling around inside of it. "No," he said. "She married the Sidekick, her best friend, instead."

"And they lived happily ever after?" asked Minnie after a yawn she was unable to squelch, still looking a bit unsatisfied.

"As happily as Happily Ever Afters can be."

"That's good," said Minnie, rubbing her eyes.

Ron smiled at her and lifted her up. He held her over his shoulder as he pulled back her bedcovers, and then tucked her in.

"Can you—" Minnie was interrupted by her final yawn of the night, "—tell me another one?"

Ron laughed. "You remember the deal, Min, one story and then bedtime. Besides, it's far too late for another story tonight."

"Do you think you could tell me another tomorrow?" mumbled Minnie into her pillow.

"Sure," said Ron. And with that, he clicked his deluminator, and the lights went out.

He went back into bed, and was sure to hold Hermione close to him. He was glad he had a chance to think about his past adventures, however, he was even more glad that there were no more to be had. Fighting villains had been exciting, true. But then, he felt complete living the happiest of Happily Ever Afters.

~The End~


End file.
